Valentine's Day Treat Boxes are a fun and easy surprise to show how much you care! My boxes include cookies, brownies, cake and chocolate covered pretzels! You can put whatever treats you have on hand in these boxes. They are sure to make someone special in your life smile!
I have this spent this past week baking up a storm (and doing a ton of dishes). I love a good excuse to bake. After making and consuming more cookies than I thought possible over Christmas, I had to take January off. While I didn't do any crazy diet or month long cleanse in January, I just didn't make any cookies which had to have some effect.
With Valentine's Day tomorrow, I decided that I wanted to do something special for Pierce's teachers. Pierce started at daycare when he was 7 months old and his teachers have done so much for him. It takes a special person to take care of infants and toddlers and I wanted to show them how thankful we are. I decided to put together some sweet Valentine's Day Treat Boxes.
What's Inside these Valentine's Day Treat Boxes!
Browned Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies
The first thing I made was Browned Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies. Browning the butter gave these cookies a deep nutty flavor. The sea salt I used is from Henlopen Sea Salt. This sea salt is sourced from Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware. I love using products and I love feeling like we have a little bit of our beach in these cookies.
Rice Krispy Treats
Rice Krispy Treats are an easy treat and I always have the ingredients on hand. I browned the butter and used sweetened condensed milk to give these a little something extra. The browned butter gives a deeper flavor and the sweetened condensed milk keeps them fluffy. I added sprinkles to give these a Valentines' Day look. Delaware locals, I get all of my seasonal sprinkles and seasonal baking supplies at Bylers. They have a huge selection and great prices!
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Who doesn't love a chocolate covered pretzel? I am a sucker for buying these at Wawa or whenever I am in a pinch (#hangry). Chocolate Covered Pretzels are so easy to make and people are always impressed by them. I like to use Wilton's melting chocolate. Byler's also has great melting chocolate! I had pretzel sticks on hand so I used those. However, mini pretzels are easy to dip and look fun!
For these pretzels, I melted the chocolate in the microwave. I start out by microwaving for 1 minute, stirring and then microwaving at 30 second intervals until chocolate in melted. I then dipped the pretzels into the melted butter. I used a spoon to pour chocolate over the pretzel tops and smooth out the chocolate. I dipped the chocolate covered pretzels into sprinkles and then laid on parchment paper to dry. Easy peasy!
Red Velvet Cupcakes
I made some fun Red Velvet Cupcakes to include in the boxes. I made regular sized cupcakes and mini cupcakes for the 1 Year Old Class. I used Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Box for these cupcakes. While I like to make homemade cupcakes, these were going to 1 year olds and I am pretty sure the majority of the cupcakes would end up on the floor. I have zero guilt using a box mix especially when I use homemade icing. I did a mix of buttercream icing and chocolate fluff icing. I piped the icing on the cupcakes to give them a special look and these took no time at all!
Coconut Banana Cake with Coconut Icing
Last up in the box is a Coconut Banana Cake with Coconut Icing. I used Half Baked Harvest's 'Easiest Coconut Banana Cake' for the cake. She made a fudge icing to go on top which I am sure is delicious! My family loves coconut and I have been on a coconut kick lately (Coconut Granola) so I made a Whipped Coconut Icing. The cake is made in one bowl in about 30 minutes. The icing comes together in about 5 minutes. To be honest, the cake is KILLER and has no added sugar. You could omit the icing and make this a Coconut Banana Bread and serve for breakfast! I did not do this because I am all about the treats for Valentine's Day. Plus, I have been on a personal quest to use all of my sprinkles!
Here is the recipe for the Whipped Coconut Icing! If you give this a try, please comment or let me know on instagram @delmarvaliciousdishes!
Whipped Coconut Icing
Ingredients
- 8 oz Unsalted Butter Softened
- 2 oz Light Cream Cheese Softened
- 1 ½ cup Powdered Sugar
- 2 teaspoon Coconut Extract
- ¼ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
Instructions
- Mix butter and cream together in a medium bowl using a stand mixer or a hand mixer.
- Add powdered sugar, coconut extract and heavy whipping cream to wet ingredients and mix until smooth and creamy.
- Smother this icing on some sweet goodness (and store leftovers in the fridge!).
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